When Connie asks him what the stuff painted on his car means, Arnold goes through the various sayings and eventually comes to the numbers 33,19, 17. … Harold Hurley posits that the numbers
carry a sexual connotations because when added together they equal
69, a sexual position.
Where are you going secret code?
“Now, these numbers are a secret code, honey,” Arnold Friend explained. He read off the numbers
33, 19, 17
and raised his eyebrows at her to see what she thought of that, but she didn’t think much of it.
What do the numbers on the car mean in where are you going?
What do the numbers written on Arnold Friend’s car (33, 19, and 17) signify in “Where Are You
Going, Where Have You Been
?” The numbers written on Arnold Friend’s car in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” possibly refer to Jesus, perhaps signifying that Friend is a sort of Antichrist.
What does the car in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been symbolize?
Arnold’s Car
The car gives Connie her first clues that there might be something wrong with or dangerous about Arnold. … Not only is the car itself rather off-putting, but Arnold presents it as the vehicle that
will transport
Connie to her new life.
What is the message of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
The main themes of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” are
appearance versus reality, the embodiment of evil, and self-sacrifice
. Appearance vs. reality: Both Connie and Arnold have two-sided natures, presenting an appealing self when necessary and withholding another.
Why is Arnold Friend’s name ironic?
In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?,” the surname of the antagonist, Arnold Friend, is ironic
because he is definitely not a friend
. Despite claiming to be friendly and polite, he is menacing to Connie. He wants to be her lover through force.
Why does Connie finally go outside as Arnold demands?
Why does Connie finally go outside as Arnold demands?
Arnold instructs Connie to come outside and says she is better than her family because they would not sacrifice themselves for her
, as she is about to sacrifice herself for them.
What expression is painted on the side of Arnold’s car?
The “source” is revealed in the “secret code” painted on the side of Arnold Friend’s car: “
He read off the numbers 33, 19, 17 and raised his eyebrows at her to see what she thought of that, but she didn’t think much of it
” (Oates, “Where” 33).
Where did Connie meet Arnold Friend?
Connie first sees Friend
outside a drive-in restaurant
, where he immediately tells her, “Gonna get you, baby.” Throughout the story it becomes clear that he is highly manipulative and that his appearance is deceptive.
Who is Ellie in where are you going?
Arnold Friend’s sidekick
, Ellie is passive and quietly disturbing character in the story. He sits in the passenger seat of Friend’s car holding the transistor radio. Connie observes that while, like Friend, Ellie is also older than he originally appeared, he is also strangely undeveloped and completely submissive.
What could the numbers on Arnold Friend’s car 33 19 17 represent?
When Connie asks him what the stuff painted on his car means, Arnold goes through the various sayings and eventually comes to the numbers 33,19, 17. … Harold Hurley posits that the numbers
carry a sexual connotations because when added together they equal 69
, a sexual position.
Why does Connie have Arnold Friend?
Connie’s
fear of intimacy
leads her to retreat emotionally even from the person she should be the closest to: her mother. Normally, the bond between mother and daughter is a sacred one. … This fear, this defense that Connie has developed, is another reason that she ends up with Arnold Friend in the end.
What is the importance of music in Where Are You Going Where have you been?
Music. Music
functions as Connie’s bridge from the real world to her fantasy world
. Connie enjoys escaping her life by listening to music and daydreaming about boys, and she gathers her ideas about romance primarily from songs on the radio.
What is the conflict in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Conflicts present in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” include
an ongoing conflict between Connie and her mother about the way she lives her life
. A second conflict arises between Connie and “Arnold Friend,” who arrives at her house when she is home alone with the intention of abducting her.
What happens to Connie at the end of the story?
What happened to Connie at the end of Where Are You Going Where have you been by Joyce Carol Oates?
Connie is compelled to leave with him and do what he demands of her
. The story ends as Connie leaves her front porch; her eventual fate is left ambiguous.”
What are the allegorical elements in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
“[The] story is clearly an allegory of
the fatal attractions of death (or the devil)
,” Oates explains. “An innocent young girl is seduced by way of her own vanity; she mistakes death for erotic romance of a particularly American/trashy sort” (source).
